New Brunswick has officially announced the launch of its new virtual health service, but it has only hired 27 nurse practitioners to provide care.
On Thursday, the province announced the official launch of the service. The service, now called Virtual Care NB, will be available to New Brunswickers starting June 30.
Health Minister John Dornan told reporters at a news conference that several changes will come with the launch of the platform, whose provider is the Luxembourg-based company Foundever.
One of those changes includes the addition of other health professionals taking appointments, rather than only nurse practitioners seeing patients. This means appointments may be handled by an emergency department, a collaborative care clinic, a pharmacy or other professionals, depending on the patient’s needs.
“Virtual care is not always the most appropriate option for every health-care concern,” Dornan said. “One of the lessons we learned with the original model was that many people who go to see a nurse practitioner could be helped by other modalities.”
Before the service transitioned to Foundever, nurses working with eVisitNB — the previous provider — attended to patients on a part-time basis, logging into the platform when available.
During the conference, Dornan acknowledged a letter he received a letter from an “unknown” source which claimed to be the nurse practioners working with eVisitNB.
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The letter outlined a series of concerns regarding how service will be provided under Foundever, due to the company only hiring a handful of the nurses working with the previous provider and a clause in their contracts with Foundever that stated the company will not be responsible to follow up with patients results.
The letter was made public in an article by local publisher River Valley Sun.
The source in the letter also mentions that nurses were taking multiple appointments at the same time. Dornan said he was concerned to hear that and said the new platform will not allow health-care providers to speak with more than one patient at a time.
He added that health care professional will also have to resolve any issues or concerns with one patient before moving on to the next on and said there will be consistent coverage for shifts.
He also assured that Foundever will be responsible for patient follow up.
“They have safety protocols and I’m not worried by that claim,” he said.
According to other media reports, over the four years it operated, eVisitNB employed about 165 nurse practitioners.
However, with the new service, Dornan confirmed only 27 nurse practitioners have been hired to date. He said despite the lower number, those under the new provider will work full time and practice to the full scope of their roles.
“150 nurse practitioners on your books does not mean you are getting 150 nurse practitioners working full time for the prior provider. In fact, some of those folks on that list never gave any hours to the provider,” he said.
Dornan said a new change allowing nurses to work to their full scope is the introduction of 20-minute appointments.
He said the appointments — instead of the virtual waiting room used in the previous service — will allow nurses to prepare, review patient charts, speak with patients, prescribe medications, write notes and book followup appointments.
“The patient should never receive inattentive, multi-focused people trying to juggle four or five balls at the same time,” he said. “They should receive focused, attentive care from their provider.”
Dornan added the new service has met required staffing levels, and that people are still applying while Foundever continues to hire.
How the new service will work
According to Dornan, the service will be available seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. It will assess and treat many common illnesses, injuries, infections and general health concerns.
It will also provide patient followup and referrals for individuals without a primary care provider, and will be available to all New Brunswickers with a valid Medicare card.
Residents can access the service in three ways: online through the Government of New Brunswick website at gnb.ca/virtualcarenb, through Tele-Care 811, or through the MyHealthNB website and mobile app.
Dornan said Tele-Care 811 will serve as a main entry point to help assess patients’ needs and guide them to the appropriate service.
Patients will have the option of a video or phone appointment.
Dornan also said all patient records will be securely stored in Canada. However, he said he was not aware of any plans to transfer patient records from the previous provider to the new service.
“Frankly, I’m not sure what records have been kept,” he said. “We can refer to those moving forward.”
He said new patient files will be created and maintained.
Dornan added that eVisitNB will continue to provide services until the new virtual-care system is fully implemented at the end of June.
